Beautiful

So here is my first even Troyella OneShot, it is in response to the zaangels write off challenge. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Disclaimer: As much as I would love to own everything, I really don't I only own the plot for this story!

Troy walked up to the door of Gabriella's house and knocked confidently, he couldn't believe what he was about to do; today he was going to teach Gabriella Montez how to drive a car.

"Good morning Troy" Christina Montez spoke as she opened the door and let Troy in, he looked around the large hallway and into the kitchen for Gabriella but she was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Gabs?" Troy began to get worried, maybe she had forgotten that they were supposed to be going out today or maybe she had gone on a last minute date. Troy had not so secretly liked Gabriella for a while now, he couldn't pin point the exact moment that he fell for her but he knew that it was sometime between new years and the end of the winter musical. The only person who didn't know that Troy was in love with her was…well her.

"She's upstairs, she is a little upset. She got a call from her Father last night, he told her that he was getting remarried, she didn't take it very well" Troy sighed and closed his eyes, he knew how close Gabriella and her father used to be and how much she missed him after he left.

"I'll go up and see what I can do" Troy solemnly walked up the stairs towards Gabriella's room, he knocked and waited for an answer, when he didn't hear one he decided that he would open the door anyway.

"Gabriella sweetheart?" Troy cautiously entered the room; he knew that if her Father was getting remarried it would open up the some what hidden trust issues that begun after her Dad stayed in San Diego instead of moving onto Albuquerque.

"I don't want to see anybody, please just leave me alone" Gabriella was led face down on her bed with her face sunken into her pillow.

"Gabs I'm here for you, your mom told me what happened with your dad. I want you to know that I'm here on you and I'm not going to break your trust" He desperately wanted to finished the sentence by telling her how much he loved her but he knew that that would just mess with her mind even more and that was definitely not what she needed right now, so he decided the best thing he could do was hold her in his arms and let her cry.

"Why am I not good enough for him? Is it because I'm ugly so he wants to get married again and have babies that are more beautiful than me? I just don't understand" Gabriella comfortably snuggled herself into Troy's protective arms, she knew that no matter how much she didn't trust guys right now she knew that Troy would always be different, he would always be there for her.

"Don't ever think that. You know, to me you're the most beautiful girl in the world. If your dad doesn't see that its his loss" Troy was exploring uncharted waters, the words that Gabriella was speaking made him realise how little she thought of herself right now and if spilling his feelings for her meant that she would be able to see how much she was loved and cared for then that's what he would do.

"Do you really mean that? I think Aoife O'Dell is a whole lot more beautiful than me" Aoife (pronounced E-FA) O'Dell was head cheerleader, she had moved from Ireland in the last few years of elementary school, she had thick auburn hair that was a definite shade of deep red rather than ginger, amazingly blue eyes and an accent that was a cross between smooth Irish and country American that she had come to acquire, every guy at East High wanted to be with her.

"You know Gabs, you are everything that she isn't, your naturally beautiful, your caring, sensitive, loving, amazingly clever and you bring more light to my life than she ever could" Despite the fact that he was spilling his inner most feelings to Gabriella he knew that he couldn't act upon them because she was still feeling low, he didn't want Gabriella to think that he was praying on her vulnerability.

"You don't have to say those things to make me feel better Troy, I know I'm ugly. That's why dad wanted to stay in San Diego, it's why Jamie used me and it's why my mom works so much. I'm just not good enough for anyone" Perhaps Troy's plans to teach Gabriella to drive would have to wait a few more weeks, all he wanted to do right now was to make sure she was ok.

"Don't ever think like that, you are far from ugly, in fact when I first saw you I thought 'wow she's beautiful' I never thought that I would see you again but I am so thankful that I did because you've made me a better person and you've made my whole life change for the absolute better" Gabriella's sobs began to subside, she knew that she could also take comfort from Troy without having to worry that he would ask for a favour in return. It had happened to her so many times where she had gone to friends to seek help and advise and once it was given those friends would ask her to do things for them, it seemed to her that that was definitely not the way that friendship should work.

"I know that's not true Troy, I can name at least 10 girls at school who you think are prettier than me" Troy knew that it was going to be tough convincing Gabriella how much she really meant to him, when her father had decided to stay on in San Diego and end the marriage to her mother she was heartbroken and all of her trust in men was completely wiped away, after all if she couldn't trust her father the one person who had promised to take care of her then who could she trust?

"Its not possible" Troy replied, Troy was almost intrigued to find out which of the girls from school Gabriella thought that he liked, the truth was that no girls would go near Troy because they all knew how much in love he was with Gabriella.

"Madison Wilson, Alexis Garcia, Ava Young, Autumn Murphy, Megan Patterson, Destiny Lewis, Mallory Clark, Sidney Scott, India Baker and Phoebe Gonzalez" Troy chuckled, since he had met Gabriella he had never even thought about the girls that she had listed and he definitely knew that none of them were more beautiful than she was.

"You top all of them, every single one. What can I do to make you better?" Seeing Gabriella sobbing in his arms broke his heart, whenever she was upset or in pain he felt it to, every single feeling she felt he shared with her.

"I don't think you can make this better Troy. I just feel like my whole world is falling away from beneath me" Gabriella snuggled closer into Troy's embrace, she was so thankful that he was in her life, she didn't know what she would ever do if he wasn't here to hold her in his arms every time she cried. She dreaded the day that Troy got a girlfriend, she knew that she wouldn't be able to have days like these where she would just curl up in his arms and let all emotions out. Troy really was the only person who she allowed to see her emotional, even her mother hadn't seen her cry since they left San Diego almost a year ago.

"Why don't we go and do something, you know take you mind off it" Troy hoisted Gabriella up slightly so that they were both lying down, Gabriella rested her tired head into the crook of Troy's neck as he smoothed soothing circles on her back, to anyone looking in from the outside world they would look like the perfect couple.

"Weren't you gonna teach me to drive today?" Troy smiled; he had forgotten all about the activities that he had planned for the day.

"We don't have to do that, we could stay here and watch a movie, because your upset I'll even let you watch the notebook" Gabriella giggled, she knew that Troy hated that movie but every time she was sad he would sit through the whole movie, laughing with her at the funny parts and wiping her tears at the sad parts.

"No I want to go out, I want to learn and I want you to teach me" Gabriella said confidently, Troy smiled down at her proudly; he was so amazed that she could be so strong.

"Let's go then" Troy pulled Gabriella up off the bed, chasing her down the stairs and through the front door both of them laughing hysterically.

Half an hour later Gabriella was happily driving downtown in Troy's car. Troy wore a huge proud smile on his face, he knew that she was good at pretty much everything but after being so stressed he thought that she might have made even a few mistakes, she hadn't even made one.

"I can't believe I'm driving, this is so awesome" Gabriella pulled into the driveway of our house with ease, driving wasn't as hard as she thought it would be.

"Do you wonna come in and watch a movie, I think I owe you that much for all you did for me today" Troy shook his head, sure he wanted to come in to watch a movie with her but he hated the fact that she thought she needed to repay him for being there for her.

"Of course I'll come and watch a movie, because I want to spend time with you, not because you owe me anything" Gabriella inwardly giggled, she had never had a friend as giving and as caring as Troy, it was something that was totally new to her and she didn't really know how to react to his kind gestures.

Gabriella happily unlocked the door; she threw off her flip-flops with the rest of the shoes by the door and happily walked into the lounge.

"Hello you two! How did you get on?" Christina asked happily as she walked into the living room, Troy smiled up at her from the couch.

"She was amazing not even one single mistake" Christina smiled, she was very glad that Gabriella had found a friend like Troy after everything that she had been through over the last year.

"Is it ok if Troy stays over tonight? I'm still kind of upset about Dad and he just knows how to make it all better" Christina suddenly wished that she had had a friend like Gabriella when she was young, her mother had moved them from Mexico when she was 8 and she found it very hard to make friends after that and seeing Gabriella with a friend as good as Troy made up for all of the bad things that she and Gabriella had been through.

"Of course, why don't you go and watch some movies in your room and I'll bring you guys up for fajitas" Gabriella grabbed Troy's hand and they both made their way up the stairs to her room. It was not uncommon for them both to snuggle up under Gabriella's comforter and watch movies while happily sitting in each other's arms.

"Can we watch the notebook? You did say earlier that we could" Gabriella used her best puppy dog eyes that she knew Troy couldn't resist.

"Only because you used the eyes" Gabriella pressed the play button on the controller and the snuggled up together happily.

As the credits began to roll up the screen Troy looked down at Gabriella, she had fallen asleep with her head resting against his chest and he hadn't had the heart to wake her up to turn off the movie so he kept on watching it right to the end, taking the opportunity to hold her extra close to him while she slept.

"Did you really mean all those things that you said earlier, about me being prettier than all of those girls" Troy knew that Gabriella was half asleep still but he also knew that she could hear what he was going to say.

"Every word, I meant every word" Troy gently brushed a loose curl out of Gabriella's eyes and kissed her forehead gently causing her to giggle slightly.

"I still don't believe you" Troy sighed, he knew that even thought Gabriella had giggled at his comment she still had the feeling deep down that told her she wasn't good enough for anyone.

'What am I gonna do?' Troy thought to himself, he desperately needed to prove to her how much he loved her and he knew that if he waited any longer the chances her giving her heart to someone else grew with everyday. He would have to do something big to prove to her just how much she meant to him, it seemed that words just weren't enough. Suddenly the perfect idea came into his mind, he looked over at the clock, it read 00:15, 'perfect' Troy thought to himself.

"Gabs? I need you to wake up for just a few minutes" Gabriella groaned in her sleep before snuggling deeper into her pillow, this was going to be harder than Troy thought.

After 10 minutes more of trying to wake Gabriella Troy decided that if he didn't do something drastic they would miss out on the plan and Troy would have to wait a whole week to be able to tell her how much he loved her. Gently he removed the comforter from his body and walked around to Gabriella's side of the bed, placed one arm around her shoulders and one underneath her knees he scooped her up and held her in his arms. Quietly he made his way down the stairs towards the front door, avoiding any loose floorboards along the way so as not to wake Ms Montez. Once Troy had successfully gotten them outside and at his car he put a still sleeping Gabriella into the seat and shut the door very quietly. They were finally on the way to one of the most amazing moments of their lives.

"Troy?" Gabriella whispered, her eyes were still closed and her speech was slurred, Troy figured that she was either talking in her sleep or she was just beginning to wake up.

"I'm here beautiful" Troy found it easy to say such things to Gabriella when she was half asleep because he knew that once she woke up she wouldn't remember anything that had been said.

"I know were not at home, where are we?" Gabriella spoke as she began to wake up some more, she knew that she wasn't cosy in bed and she was curious as to why she seemed to be in Troy's car at half 1 in the morning.

"I need to show you something, it's gonna take a while longer so get some sleep ok?" Troy didn't want to give his idea away to Gabriella by telling her where they were going, to be honest he wasn't entirely sure how to get there exactly but he was sure that once they got close enough he would be able to fid his way from the signs at the side of the road.

After 2 and ½ hours of being in the car Gabriella finally opened her eyes to gage her surroundings, she soon realized that she wasn't anywhere that she knew or had been before, she looked at the sign that was quickly approaching on the left hand side of the road.

'WELCOME TO ARIZONA' She read the words and played them over in her mind 20 times, what on earth was Troy doing driving her to Arizona at 2:30 in the morning.

"Uh Troy, did we just cross a state line?" Gabriella asked, she knew that they had but she wanted to make sure that Troy knew exactly what he was doing.

"Absolutely" This confused Gabriella even more, this hadn't been something that was planned, which meant that their patents didn't know about it so what was troy doing driving over a state line without asking their parents, more to the point where were they even going?

"Where are we going Troy?" Gabriella was desperate to know just what Troy was thinking, one minute she had been happily tucked up in bed the next she was in a car, driving over state lines heading for god only knows where.

"Just go back to sleep Ella, I'll wake you when were there" Troy would be driving at least another 3 hours before they got to where he was trying to go and he knew that if Gabriella kept asking where they were going he would not be able to concentrate on driving and the potentially best day of his life could so very quickly turn into the worst.

"Fine but when mom wakes up tomorrow, finds us gone and calls the cops it will be all your fault for taking me over a state line" Troy couldn't care less about what Christina would do when she woke up and found them gone or what kind of threats Gabriella was placing on him at that specific moment, all he cared about was showing the girl right next to him just how much he adored her.

After another ½ an hour of pestering Troy about where they were going Gabriella finally let her need for sleep over come her and was once again resting her head against the window sleeping, Troy began to think to himself what he would do if his feelings for Gabriella were not returned, he wondered what would happen if he spilled his heart to her and she turned away, he hadn't thought of any of this before they had left Albuquerque, perhaps he should have but he knew that if he had they wouldn't he half way into Arizona right now.

Finally after 5 ½ hours of driving Troy pulled up the car in the perfect position, all of his plan was starting to fall into place and even thought it was only 5:15am and he was exhausted he couldn't wait to see Gabriella's face.

"Why doesn't anyone love me Troy?" Troy couldn't believe his ears; Gabriella had just provided him with the most amazing unexpected opportunity to show her how much he cared about her. Gently he pulled Gabriella from her seat and into his arms, holding her close to his chest and placing gently kisses in her hair.

"I love you Gabriella" She opened her eyes slowly to see Troy's looking down at her, his eyes were filled with fear, she knew that he was afraid of what he had just said.

"Do you really Troy? Because you don't have to say that to make me feel better" Troy glanced passed Gabriella, this was the perfect moment and he knew if he didn't act on it now everything would be completely ruined.

"Close your eyes" Gabriella frowned, she still didn't know where on earth they were or why they were there but from the look on Troy's face she knew this was no time to be asking questions.

Troy opened the car door and slipped out still holding Gabriella close to him making sure that her eyes remained firmly shut.

"Just trust me, I wont let you fall" Troy took one of Gabriella's hands in his and placed the other around her waist to guide her as she walked, once they had stopped Troy placed both of Gabriella's hands against what felt to her like a railing, she could feel the warmth of the morning sun beginning to touch her skin and a war gently breeze blowing through her hair.

"My love for you is greater than this Ella, I really love you and I need you to believe me, before you open you eyes I just want to tell you, to me you're the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and when your open your eyes baby you'll see why that's so special. Ok open" Gabriella took a deep breath, she had no idea what she was going to open her eyes to but after what Troy had just said to her all she wanted to do was look him in the eyes and tell him that she loved him to. Slowly she opened her eyes, what she saw before her completely took her breath away, she suddenly realised that everything that Troy had been saying was completely true. Troy had brought Gabriella all the way to the Grand Canyon just in time for sunset.

"Oh my gosh Troy, I cant believe you did all of this for me" Gabriella turned back to face Troy with tears of happiness running down her cheeks.

"People come for miles to see this place but I don't have to go for miles because I see you everyday and your 100 times more beautiful" Gabriella knew that Troy was being completely serious, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. No one had ever said anything so amazing to her in her whole life.

"Troy…wow" Gabriella couldn't find the words, she tried to speak but nothing came out, she was completely blown away.

"I love you Gabriella, baby I love you so much" Troy was taken aback when as Gabriella threw her arms around his neck and sobbed into his neck.

"Thank you so much Troy, I love you" Gabriella whispered, Troy grew a huge grin on his face; he was so relieved that Gabriella felt the same strong feelings for him as he did for her, gently he pulled Gabriella away from him so that he could look into her eyes.

"You're my everything" Troy whispered as he leant his nose gently against Gabriella's, slowly and cautiously troy moved his face to gently rest his lips against Gabriella's, both remained completely still for a few seconds simply taking in the feeling of each other, it didn't take long for the to become completely lost in the feelings that they were both shared. Troy pulled away from Gabriella slightly rubbing his nose gently against hers before pulling her in for the most gentle and loving kiss that either of them had shared.

"I love you Troy, thank you so much for making me see that at least one person loves me" Troy gently stroked away the delicate tears that were running down Gabriella's cheeks and gently kissed both of here closed eyes.

"I want us to be together, now and forever, I love you beautiful" Suddenly Gabriella didn't care how ugly people thought she was or how many people decided that they didn't like her because Troy had called her more beautiful than the Grand Canyon at sunrise and for the first time in her life, she really believed it.

So there it is! I'm quite proud of it; it took a lot of imagination and ages to write so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please let me know what you think. Thanks for reading xxx